Angry
Birds
Between The Social Network
and Angry Birds,
I fear it is only a matter of time until we have Snapchat
– The Movie (The
Tinder Movie would probably end
up on pay per view late, late, very late at night).
In this animated tale, Jason Sudeikis provides the voice of Red
– an angry bird in a land of flightless birds who seem to
love unconditionally (although, to be fair, Red has plenty of reasons
to be annoyed by these other bozos).
As Red is forced by court order to undergo anger management, a ship
full of pigs shows up on the island, led by Leonard (Bill Hader). While
all of the other birds welcome the new visitors with open wings, Red
keeps picking up on inconsistencies in their stories and questions
their true motivation.
What are the pigs up to?
Can Red and his pals stop them?
This might not be the most original and novel way to convert a game and
its characters into a movie, but it can be funny most of the time (even
if some of it is so dark it should frighten the living daylights out of
some children).
Writer John Vitti seems to do half of a good job with the script for
Angry Birds.
Everything starts off in fine style as he and the directors, Clay
Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, shape and mold the Angry Birds world and
characters to become something more than two dimensional.
We get to learn valuable backstory about Red, understand the world he
inhabits, and develop a good sense about why he is so angry. They even
toss in a few bird puns to make the adults giggle.
However, Angry Birds
relies too much on empty action for the second half of the film.
Everyone involved is a bit too concerned about bringing the game to
life as the birds (SURPRISE! SURPRISE!) have to destroy the
pigs’ village to save themselves.
Vitti, Kaytis and Reilly end up making the last half of the movie into
a non-stop, over-the-top and boring extended scene of destruction
devoid of the humor and cleverness the audience was able to enjoy early
on.
It turns Angry Birds
into a much too simple movie.
Bonus points to those who figure out which character is played by Sean
Penn.
Angry
Birds is rated PG for rude humor and
action.
97 Minutes
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